But with a victory in regulation over the Guelph Storm tonight, the Soo Greyhounds can move into fifth place in the Ontario Hockey League's Western Conference.

Yet Hounds head coach Sheldon Keefe has a word – actually a few words – of warning for his team as it prepares to face a formidable opponent.

“They'll push us hard,” Keefe said of the Storm, which enters tonight's clash with a 34-20-1-4 record, good for 73 points. “They work hard and if we're not ready to compete, it'll be a tough night. When we're on our heels, life is very tough.”

The Hounds (33-21-3-3) are a single point back and have played one more game than the Storm.

The Soo also trails Plymouth (35-17-5-4) by seven points in the race for top spot in the West Division. The Hounds, however, have played one fewer game that the Whalers.

“If we could grab fifth place, that would be huge for us,” said Greyhounds winger David Broll, whose team is coming off of a disappointing 5-4 shootout loss to Sudbury on Wednesday here. “But we have to get back to playing a full 60 minutes and not being light on teams who come into our rink.”

That was the case against a Wolves club that was short-handed and chose to rest No. 1 netminder Franky Palazzese. But backup Taylor Dupius turned in an impressive performance despite the Wolves being outshot 46-34.

Keefe wants to see more – a lot more, in fact – from his veterans tonight. The first-year head coach was disappointed with the way in which his experienced players performed against the Wolves.

“We had no urgency,” Keefe said. “Actually, we've been in a funk since the Peterborough game.”

On Feb. 9, the Hounds struggled on the road, en route to dropping a 3-2 decision to the lowly Petes.

Since then, the Soo is 4-2-1-1.

“We're focused on getting our game back in order,” the coach added.

“We have to outwork them,” veteran Ryan Sproul said of the Storm. “It can't be like Wednesday night was for us.”

The OHL's top-scoring defenceman with 62 points, despite playing in only 43 games, Sproul saw considerable time at centre Wednesday, helping make up for the absence of veteran Nick Cousins.

Keefe said that experiment will not continue tonight.

The OHL's leading scorer with 98 points, Cousins will serve the third of a four-game, league-imposed suspension this evening. The suspension, handed down Wednesday, is as a result of a game misconduct for checking from behind in last Friday's 4-3 overtime loss in London.

“As much as we need him at forward” Keefe began, playing Sproul up front “takes a major element away from our defence. He's more comfortable on defence and it leaves a hole there without him.”

Instead of using Sproul in the middle, Keefe could chose to employ a combination of Broll, Andrew Fritsch and Ryan Kirkup behind regular centres Jared McCann and Tyler Gaudet.

Veteran Matt Murray is expected to start in goal tonight.

Following this evening's contest, the Hounds play host to Peterborough Sunday night.

The Soo begins its final road trip of the regular season next Thursday in Windsor.